Two former Parramatta Eels players are accused of harbouring semi-automatic weapons and possessing more than half-a-million dollars in cash after dramatic arrests in Sydney's Centennial Park yesterday.

Joyce warns sugar parties to end dispute

Barnaby Joyce has warned Queensland Sugar Limited and mill owner Wilmar to end their long-running dispute or deal with the "clumsy fingers" of federal politicians poking around in their businesses.

The deputy prime minister says the best outcome would be if the two companies reached a new supply agreement during mediation talks on Thursday.

"We've always said, and I'll continue to say, that we reserve our rights at the federal level," he told reporters in Canberra.

"[But] if they think for one second that we've taken our eye off the ball, or we're going to let this go through to the keeper, we haven't.

"I say to QSL, I say to Wilmar, if you don't want the clumsy fingers in your business, then fix up your business, fix it up [like] today."

The Queensland government, with the help of the cross bench, voted down a rushed LNP bill to amend the Sugar Industry Act on Wednesday night which would have forced the two warring companies into arbitration.

Mr Joyce says the decision by independents Billy Gordon, Rob Pyne and speaker Peter Wellington to support the government was "a disgrace".